Staking · Restaking · EIGEN
EigenLayer (EigenCloud) is the pioneering restaking protocol: ETH stakers and LST holders restake to extend cryptoeconomic security to Actively Validated Services (AVSs) in exchange for additional rewards.
Restaking — reuse staked ETH to secure new services.
EIGEN price
$0.1696
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Created the restaking primitive; the largest pool of restaked security and the base layer most LRTs build on.
A set of Ethereum smart contracts that let stakers 'restake' ETH or liquid staking tokens to extend Ethereum's economic security to other applications. Restakers opt in by delegating to operators, who in turn secure Actively Validated Services (AVSs).
Applications and services (data availability layers, oracles, bridges, coprocessors, etc.) that consume restaked security. AVSs define operational conditions and Service Level Agreements enforced economically via slashing.
Node operators who receive delegated restake from stakers and run the off-chain software required by the AVSs they opt into. Operators are the entities subject to slashing if they fail to meet AVS commitments.
The protocol's work token, designed to complement ETH restaking by handling 'intersubjective faults' — misbehavior not objectively provable on-chain. Its core mechanism is 'intersubjective forking,' allowing EIGEN to fork without forking Ethereum mainnet.
A developer platform announced in 2025 that packages EigenLayer's verifiability primitives into unified services: EigenDA (data availability), EigenVerify (dispute resolution) and EigenCompute (execution), letting developers build apps with on-chain trust guarantees for off-chain computation.
1,673,646,668.28 EIGEN
Eigen Foundation — EIGEN announcement2025-04-17
EigenCloud Blog — Slashing Goes LiveHow EigenLayer maps onto established TradFi structures, and where it diverges.
Reinsurance / shared collateral pools
EigenLayer
Like reinsurance, restaking lets one pool of capital (staked ETH) underwrite the security of many separate services simultaneously, improving capital efficiency.
TradFi analogue
EigenLayer's guarantees are enforced automatically by on-chain slashing rather than legal contracts, and the underwriting capital is pooled crypto stake that can be burned for misbehavior.
Eigen Labs
Core developer The company (founded 2021 by Sreeram Kannan) that builds the EigenLayer protocol and the EigenCloud platform. Raised its Series A and Series B rounds under the Eigen Labs entity.
Eigen Foundation
Ecosystem steward / foundation An independent, shareholder-less entity dedicated to accelerating growth of the EigenLayer ecosystem, stewarding protocol development, the EIGEN token, research, grants and decentralization efforts.
Series A
2023-03-28$50M
Key milestones: launches, upgrades, exploits and governance events.
EIGEN token launch announced
ExecutedEigen Foundation introduced the EIGEN token and Season 1 stakedrop.
SourceMainnet slashing activated
ExecutedSlashing went live on Ethereum mainnet, enabling economic enforcement of AVS commitments.
SourceEigenCloud unveiled with a16z $70M backing
ExecutedEigenLayer revealed the EigenCloud developer platform (EigenDA + EigenVerify + EigenCompute), backed by a $70M direct EIGEN token purchase from a16z crypto.
SourceEigenLayer is an Ethereum restaking protocol. It lets users who already stake ETH (or hold liquid staking tokens) 're-stake' that stake to extend Ethereum's economic security to additional services, called Actively Validated Services (AVSs), earning extra rewards in exchange for taking on additional slashing risk.
EIGEN is EigenLayer's work token, announced on April 29, 2024 by the Eigen Foundation. It is designed to handle 'intersubjective faults' — misbehavior that cannot be objectively proven on-chain but that reasonable observers would agree on — via a mechanism called intersubjective forking. Total supply at launch was 1,673,646,668.28 EIGEN.
Yes. Slashing went live on Ethereum mainnet on April 17, 2025. It lets AVSs burn an operator's restaked funds if the operator fails to meet the AVS's defined conditions, converting service promises into economically enforced commitments.
EigenCloud is a developer platform built on EigenLayer that combines EigenDA (data availability), EigenVerify (dispute resolution) and EigenCompute (execution) into one programmable environment, letting developers build applications with blockchain-grade verifiability for off-chain computation. a16z crypto backed the rollout with a $70M direct EIGEN token purchase in June 2025.
EigenLayer was built by Eigen Labs (founded 2021 by Sreeram Kannan). An independent, shareholder-less Eigen Foundation stewards ecosystem growth, research, grants and the EIGEN token.
